The Academy of Pharmacy deplores an “almost complete loss of independence for Europe in sources of supply of active pharmaceutical ingredients (which) is combined with the possible loss of the corresponding industrial know-how”. In, clear, more and more medications are produced abroad for economic reasons which causes several problems.
Relocate production to Europe
Thus “14% of drug outages would originate from a difficulty in the supply of raw materials for pharmaceutical use. 60% to 80% of active ingredients for pharmaceutical use are manufactured in countries outside the European Union, mainly in India and Asia, against 20% thirty years ago “.
Betting that in the long term the difference in production cost between third countries and Europe will be reduced, the Academy of Pharmacy recommends “to initiate a proactive policy of relocating the production of active pharmaceutical ingredients considered to be strategic in terms of protection of public health. “
Better control drug compliance
A first step should be to define a list of active ingredients primarily concerned by this relocation. These are mainly drugs such as antibioticsantiretrovirals anticancer, anesthetics, anticoagulants, immunoglobulins… and active ingredients essential for emergency treatment.
Pending and in order to guarantee the quality of medicines imported into the European Union, exporting countries must, from July 2013 in accordance with Directive 2011/62 / EU, establish “a written confirmation ensuring that each substance imported into the The European Union complies with European quality standards and that each manufacturing site is inspected on a regular basis by these authorities. “
